Politics

On Jan. 24, the Village Public Safety Officer working group adopted the final version of the recommendations it introduced earlier this month.

Protecting the subsidy that helps lower the cost of power in the bush is Sen. Lyman Hoffman of Bethel’s number one priority again this legislative session.  

Last year, the governor’s budget would have transferred, or "swept," the Power Cost Equalization funds into other projects. But Hoffman fought hard to protect it, and succeeded. Now he wants to get legislation in place to protect the program in the future.

Sen. Lyman Hoffman of Bethel has joined the chorus of those criticizing the Dunleavy administration’s plans to ask local communities to help pay for their residents to obtain REAL ID Act compliant documents. Beginning Oct. 1, 2020, the Dept. of Homeland Security will require all driver licenses and ID cards to be REAL ID compliant if one wants to use them to board an airplane. And Hoffman may be able to leverage the funding. 

Sen. Lyman Hoffman is now one of the more powerful people in the Senate. He became the Senate Majority Leader last summer when former Senate Majority Leader Mia Costello, a Republican, decided to break with the caucus and meet with lawmakers in Wasilla. Hoffman also maintains his seat on the Senate Finance Committee. That means that as lawmakers grapple with a major shortfall in the state budget, Hoffman will be in the middle of all of it.

“Yes,” Hoffman said. “That’s exactly the way I like it.”

This week marks the final meeting where Bethel resident Mark Springer will chair the Alaska Marijuana Control Board. Gov. Mike Dunleavy chose not to reappoint Springer to another term. Springer talked to KYUK about the work he and other members of Alaska’s first Marijuana Control Board did to regulate what had been an illegal substance as it made the transition to a legal Alaska industry.

Bethel has a pool again. The Yukon Kuskokwim Fitness Center reopened on Monday, after nearly three weeks of closure due to frozen pipes and other mechanical issues caused by the cold snap.

The Bethel City Council was impressed by City Attorney candidate Elizabeth “Libby” Bakalar. Bakalar will be invited for an on-site interview, scheduled the same day that the three candidates for city manager make their visit.

During the regular meeting on Jan. 14, the Bethel City Council will do something it doesn’t usually do: conduct a job interview over live radio. The city council will interview one candidate for city attorney.

The Bethel City Council likes all three final candidates for city manager so far. In the first round of video interviews last week, each candidate showed different strengths. As a result, the council invited them all to Bethel for on-site interviews scheduled for some time next month.